The individual time trial keeps cyclists honest, racing no-one but themselves and the ticking of the stopwatch, but it is a discipline that even some of the most famous cycling names have failed to master.
Levi Hone made it look relatively simple last Saturday in Glenrowan, obliterating the field to take home the under-19 Victorian State Time Trial Championship.
Sporting a super-aero haircut after snipping his iconic mullet, Hone averaged a blistering 45.5km/h across the 19.6km course, registering a time of 25 minutes and 49 seconds.
“I was pretty confident,” Hone said of the feeling when crossing the line with just one person still to finish.
“I was pretty confident going into it, I’ve been doing pretty good numbers in training lately.
“Throughout the race, we go out and we turn around 10 km in, so you can kind of take a bit of a gauge, if I know ‘old mate’ starts a minute behind me, I can take a time check there.
“If he passes me going opposite ways, if it’s over 30 seconds (to the turnaround) I’d say I’m up, and I reckon when I passed him I was pretty confident.”
Hone’s first state title comes exactly one year since he was disqualified from the under-17 road race at the same event.
Junior cyclists race with restricted gears, and Hone’s rollout in his biggest gear exceeded the maximum allowable distance by “about five millimetres”.
He more than made amends this year, claiming his maiden state title despite the course being far from his preferred hunting ground.
“It was pretty flat, which doesn’t suit me very well at all,” he said.
“There were some slight undulations, about 2, 3 per cent (gradient) maybe. It was just rolling the whole time, not really flat but up or down, just not by much.”
Hone’s great form bodes well for the upcoming Tour of Gippsland, the final round in the under-19 National Road Series, for which he currently shares the overall lead.
“I’m not so sure yet,” he said of his chances of claiming the win.
“The course is really not good, we are doing every stage on the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit.
“I’d happily do one or two races there, but it’s just going to be too flat for me. I’ll see what I can do anyway.”
With only one round of the under-19 NRS remaining, Hone is looking to step into the open ranks temporarily later this year, with a major goal in mind come January 2024.
“I’ll probably do a few (senior) NRS races towards the end of the year, maybe the Tour of Tassie, that would be a good one, good terrain there,” he said.
“Nationals in January is a really big goal of mine, to do well there next year.
“I raced there this year, and I actually really enjoyed both the time trial and road race course. I think they suit me pretty okay.”
While the nationals in Buninyong is the next logical step for the young gun, there is one eye focused on the international stage, having watched some of his junior peers racing at the recent UCI World Championships in Glasgow.
“I’d love to race there at any time, really,” he said.
“If I do well at nationals next year, maybe that’ll help me for selection. I know next year is in Switzerland too, which I’d really like to go to, so yeah, that would be nice.”
Echuca Moama Cycling Club also had two other riders claim state titles, as well as another podium place.
Michael ‘Squizzy’ Taylor was the fastest in the hand-cycle section, earning the status of Victorian champion with a two minute and 35 second buffer to his nearest competitor.
Ben Oman can also call himself Victorian champion after averaging 34.1km/h across the course, finishing in 33 minutes and 32 seconds in the deaf section.
Cameron Smith finished on the podium in the masters 55-59 category, taking the bronze medal.
Both George Griffiths (under-15A) and Harry Moller (under-17B) were unlucky to miss the medals, finishing fourth in their respective categories.
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